Tattoo of the Week: Tribal-Inspired Ink

Another great tattoo design here at Purchase. Katie was one of the many that showed interest in being photographed for a tattoo project I'm doing at Purchase College. It was done by Mehai from Fine Lines Tattoo in NYC back in August 2009. This was her own design that she based on tribal tattoos of tribes in New Guinea and Inuit. What drew her to tribal art was that it is the culture from which tattooing originated and it connects her to a time where there were no distractions. When I asked her why she designed her own tribal she said while she respected these cultures and their art, she could never get a traditional design because there is so much cultural meaning that it can be insulting for an outsider to copy those designs.

Below are some of her other designs she has:

The First Tattoo Experience

Today, I went with my friend to get her first tattoo at Big Joe & Sons in White Plains. She was got the mysterious letters found in the Qu'ran in Arabic (kind of interesting because they appear repeatedly in the Qu'ran but no one knows what they mean). The tattoo itself was fairly simple and came out great but the service was just okay. They were laid back but the artist seemed preoccupied. During the session my friend got a bit dizzy and he made her take a break. But then he literally forgot about her and was busy on the phone. He took him about 20 to 30 minutes to remember to finish the tattoo. Once it was done, they pretty much just gave her a sheet on after-care instructions with a recommendation on best creme but didn't really go through it with her. Even though she likes the tattoo, she doesn't believe she would go back. It really shows how getting a tattoo is not just the finished product but the experience of getting it.
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